Mad Catz Licensed Xbox One Headsets Coming This Summer

Mad Catz will become the third peripheral manufacturer to join the small band of licensed companies capable of making third-party Xbox One accessories.

The company sent out a press release indicating that they will be providing gamers with Xbox One headsets starting this summer, as noted on Twinfinite.

Darren Richardson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz Interactive commented about the news, saying...

“We’re excited to announce our upcoming range of headsets for the Xbox One platform,” … “Over 45% of our sales are derived from gaming headsets, and we believe the addition of Xbox One headsets will make a significant contribution to our return to growth and profitability in fiscal 2015.”

Unlike the previous generation (or any generation of gaming before the current one), product manufacturers now have to get the “a-okay” from Microsoft before they're allowed to release products for the Xbox One.

That's right, it means that you can no longer walk into GameStop or Target or Best Buy and pick up an off-brand controller, headset or accessory. Everything must be curated by Microsoft, as announced by the company last year.

In some regards, I can understand a company wanting better quality control for the products made available for their system. There were some instances where the Nyko intercooler ventilator for the Xbox 360 actually caused the system some problems, as reported by Techcrunch. Then again, I don't know if we can fully blame Nyko for that problem when the 360 suffered from the Red Rings of Death all its own.

However, it would seem like software curation and quality – especially in regards to AAA title releases – should be the bigger concern over third-party, unlicensed hardware accessories and peripherals.

The fact that neither Sony nor Microsoft reprimanded Electronic Arts for releasing Battlefield 4 in such a poor state – and with as many bugs as it had at launch – is a damning display of poor quality assurance and software approval incompetence. That's not to mention that it makes a farce of the process of going through rigorous certification phases.

It would seem like the more pertinent task is to enforce quality software, much in the same way that Nintendo forces a measure of that same quality on their platforms, as opposed to trying to milk more royalties out of third-party peripheral manufacturers by making them jump through hoops to provide additional accessories for the console.

Anyway, it is what it is.

Microsoft holds the key to the Xbox kingdom and right now only three product makers have access to that kingdom. Gamers looking for a more diverse selection of headsets outside of PDP and Turtle Beach will be able to pick up Xbox One branded headsets from Mad Catz' Tritton branch starting this summer.